News Tagged: Oregon Department Of Transportation
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Report: Oregon’s bridges more vulnerable to earthquakes than expected
It’s not shocking that bridges built without thought to earthquakes wouldn’t make it through a big quake unharmed. More surprising, however, is how much damage even a relatively small earthquake would cause to Oregon’s bridges.
In an exhaustive OTREC project, researcher Peter Dusicka looked at the most common bridge types in the Oregon highway system. Those bridges weren’t just fragile, he found—they were even more fragile than other researchers and technical guidelines had suggested.
Dusicka published his preliminary findings in a draft report last year. The final report, “Bridge Damage Models for Seismic Risk Assessment of Oregon Highway Network,” is out now. Click here to download.
Most Oregon highway bridges were built before the 1980s, when designers started to consider seismic activity. Dusicka set out to see what would happen to the most common bridge type, continuous concrete multi-beam or girder, during quakes of varying degrees.
Tags: bridge damage state model, bridge failure, bridges, cascadia subduction zone, fragility curves, hazus, opensees, oregon department of transportation, peter dusicka, seismic risk assessment, transportation modeling
Report: For transportation department fleet decisions, simpler may be better
Although specialized equipment and vehicles make up a large portion of state transportation budgets, an OTREC research report found little consistency in how states decide to replace this equipment.
Researchers David Kim and David Porter of Oregon State University surveyed 25 state departments of transportation to determine how they made replacement decisions. Nearly all consider the age of the vehicle or piece of equipment, with many considering how much use it gets.
Around half use thresholds, such as number of miles or months in service, to identify candidates for replacement. Some consider the equipment’s repair cost or operating cost, while others rely on physical inspections. None explicitly considers greenhouse gas emissions or other environmental concerns in its replacement criteria.
Given the huge range of approaches, Kim and Porter wondered if modeling could lead to better decision-making. They ran various models against the simple approach of using equipment age as a threshold value.
As it turns out, the simple approach isn’t too bad. In fact, it does better than one complicated mathematical model and about the same as a second model.
Click here to learn more about the project and download the report.
That may seem puzzling, but Kim said he wasn’t surprised. Models need good data to produce good results and most states don’t collect and process enough data to feed the most complex models.
Tags: david kim, david porter, fleet replacement, fleet vehicles, fleets, oregon department of transportation, transportation modeling, vehicle fleets
OTREC hosts national Council of University Transportation Centers conference
Even with uncertainty clouding the future of university transportation research, more than 150 people from around the country showed their dedication to providing the most useful transportation research at the Council of University Transportation Centers’ 2011 summer meeting. OTREC hosted the conference June 13-15 at Portland State University.
University transportation researchers and staff, along with federal and state transportation officials, convened for three days of work sessions, meetings and exploring. OTREC-organized tours gave a Portland flavor to the proceedings, letting visitors explore the city by every available transportation mode. The 4T trail took participants on a light-rail train, a trail, an aerial tram and a streetcar (or trolley). The bike tour showed off the bicycle infrastructure that is making Portland nationally known. An architecture walking tour highlighted downtown Portland’s buildings and parks. And the food-and-beer tour explored the city’s burgeoning food-cart scene and copious microbreweries.
For many people, the conference provided the first opportunity to visit Oregon, and OTREC took the opportunity to share the state’s story of integrating transportation and land use. Rex Burkholder and Andy Cotugno with regional government Metro discussed how planning and policymaking dovetail with transportation in creating a livable region. Bob Hastings, agency architect with TriMet, described the transit agency’s sustainability initiatives. Lidwien Rahman with the Oregon Department of Transportation detailed the codes that provide a backbone for transportation and land-use planning.
Tags: andy cotugno, bob hastings, cutc, jennifer dill, lidwien rahman, oregon department of transportation, rex burkholder, rich margerum, robert liberty, starr mcmullen, sustainable cities initiative, transportation research, trimet, university transportation centers, usdot
Modeling collaborative forum builds ties, offers guidance to policymakers
Even as complex visual representations of data become common, many people still don’t understand what land-use and transportation modelers do. In April, state and local planning directors met to address that and other issues they’ll increasingly face in the coming years. The Oregon Modeling Collaborative convened the Oregon Transportation Policy Forum for guidance in developing the tools agencies will need and to keep agencies talking about transportation issues.
Giving a complex topic such as global warming the video game treatment could make it easier to grasp, said Angus Duncan of the Oregon Global Warming Commission. “I have yearned for something that’s the greenhouse gas equivalent of a ‘Sim City,’ “ Duncan said at the forum. “Something simple enough that kids can play with it, but something you can use for communication.”
Developers have gotten much better at representing data, said Tom Schwetz, director of development services for Lane Transit District, but leaps in handheld devices such as iPhones have raised expectations still higher. Transportation models are getting more complex and, at the same time, people are demanding their information quicker and quicker.
Tags: angus duncan, global warming, jerri bohard, kelly clifton, lane transit district, oregon department of transportation, tom schwetz, transportation modeling
Governor’s adviser wants health, land use, housing on transportation agenda
Oregon governors have had transportation advisers before. Lynn Peterson wants to be something different.
Peterson, an OTREC advisory board member and former Clackamas Board of County Commissioners chairwoman, joined Gov. John Kitzhaber’s administration in March as sustainable communities and transportation policy adviser.
“I’ve always been a transportation advocate,” Peterson said. “But we talked about the need to integrate transportation with housing and economic development and land use.
“By adding ‘sustainable communities’ to transportation adviser, we were basically saying, ‘Listen: as we move through the transportation discussion, we need to consider the health component, the housing component, the overlaps in other areas.’ “
Peterson brings a broad transportation policy background, having earned graduate degrees in both planning and engineering from Portland State University. She worked in transportation planning for both Metro and TriMet, as a transportation advocate for 1000 Friends of Oregon, and also served on the Lake Oswego City Council.
Peterson said she didn’t hesitate to step into a role that places her in the center of potentially contentious projects or between the governor and other agencies. She savors participating in the effort to bring high-speed rail to Oregon, for example.
“I see the opportunity to provide direction and potentially speed up the process,” Peterson said.
Tags: board of advisors, health impact assessments, john kitzhaber, livability, lynn peterson, oregon department of transportation
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